[Locke]

By some guys with a ladder truck, some scooters, and angle grinder and a blowtorch. In broad daylight.

The Louvre Museum in Paris remained closed on Monday as police continue to investigate a brazen daylight heist that lasted less than eight minutes in total a day earlier inside the world’s most visited museum.

On Sunday, thieves rode a basket lift (or cherry picker) up the Louvre’s facade and smashed an upstairs window and display cases before fleeing with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said.

The heist took place about 30 minutes after the museum opened, with visitors already inside, and unfolded just 250 metres from the Mona Lisa.

At around 9:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, masked thieves used an electric ladder and grinders to break into the second-floor Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo’s Gallery), which is a large room where the Crown Diamonds are displayed, including the Regent, the Sancy and the Hortensia.

The thieves smashed two display cases and fled on motorbikes, Nunez said. Alarms brought Louvre agents to the room, forcing the intruders to bolt, but the theft was already done.

Darmanin also acknowledged security failures on Monday.

“One can wonder about the fact that, for example, the windows hadn’t been secured, about the fact that a basket lift was on a public road,” he said. “Having (previously) been interior minister, I know that we cannot completely secure all places, but what is certain is that we have failed.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/11485473/...-theft-museum/